"They're dealing with the pressure every day in making decisions about drugs," said Steve Dnistrian of the Partnership For A Drug-Free America. "They're seeing drugs in their schools and in their neighborhoods."

The report immediately became ammunition for White House efforts to get Congress to spend billions more on juvenile crime and other programs.

But critics of the Clinton administration say it is already a federal offense for a juvenile to carry a gun to school, and that the balanced budget agreement increased spending on the Safe and Drug-Free School Act.

"To think that if the federal government will just pass three more laws and somehow that's going to give us more peace and more hope for our young people is such an unrealistic view," said Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio. "It's not the answer."

White House aides acknowledge that parents are far more important than politicians when it comes to fighting crime. But the White House says more prosecutors and recreation programs would help.